The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
